health
Guidance to assist doctors who treat infectious diseases
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 22, 2013
New guidelines are expected to improve the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases by offering physicians insight into the most valuable laboratory tests for a variety of conditions, says the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
The recommendations, which were issued by the IDSA and the American Society for Microbiology, include guidance on lab tests that offer little or no value and how to collect and manage specimens. The guidelines were posted online July 10 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (link).
The recommendations are divided into sections based on anatomic systems, including cardiovascular and central nervous systems, and etiologic agent groups, such as viral syndromes. The guide is expected to help physicians decide which tests to request when they suspect specific agents are causing disease. The recommendations were developed by experts in infectious diseases, pathology and microbiology.